EU-RUSSIA ENERGY RELATION

EU-Russia Energy Relation

EU-Russia Energy Relation

Introduction

Recent history clearly demonstrates how regional collaboration and assistance brings nations together from previously held differences in political systems and allows them to pursue common goals (Aalto, 2006). Geographically, the Baltic nations form the centre of the Baltic Sea area. This provides them an opportunity to internationally prove how valuable they are when it comes to decreasing the distance between the West and the East (Pelto, 2003, p. 185; Nimmo, 2005).

However, it would not be right to suppose that Baltic nations consist of one whole or that each of the nations in the region acts unilaterally amidst the torrent of affairs concerning international relations (Goble, 2006). For several years, the nation of Latvia has been considered the sole Baltic State that has promoted the idea of cooperation in the Baltic Sea ever since Estonia tightened relations with Finland and Lithuania and Poland moved closer (Aalto, 2006). This essentially isolated the Latvians, leaving them in the cold.

The Latvians sympathised the idea of a gateway and promoted multi-directional openness. On the other hand, Estonians along with Lithuanians highlighted their historical ties as well as the geographical locations of their countries (Ojala et al., 2005). Hence, the strategies that these nations were following were rather different and mixed. Estonia, which was largely liberal, relied on a well-established and efficient transport infra-structure (Ojala et al., 2005). Latvia also had a transit strategy where it exploited local oil pipelines as under the conviction that Russia would find alternative outlets (Laurila, 2003, p. 27-57). At about the same period of time, Lithuania, which was marginally mercantilist, took advantage of oil refineries. This is mainly how the Baltic States evolved rapidly into a region of contacts while in the process of providing a corridor that led towards three different directions - refineries, ports, and pipelines/railways (Lane, 2002).

Although the states in the Baltic collectively act as a transit corridor, also being taken for granted for the specific role that they play in the critical link between EU and Russia, it would be incorrect to suppose that the strategies that they have devised and followed are crystal clear (Pelto, 2003, p. 183-209; Kurm, 2006). Rather than listening to official stances, a better approach would be to construct the orientation of each state by gathering the scattered pieces of data that point towards distinctly different directions in all of the three cases (Nimmo, 2005). This is a primary reason why an official position is still pending - security concerns seldom comply with the interests of businesses (Barnes et al., 2004). Moreover, environmentalists would have an objection to practically every strategy and plan that aims to convert the Baltic States into a corridor of uncontrolled flow (Berg, 2003, p. 101-20).

The primary purpose of this paper is to provide the reader with comprehensive knowledge of the energy link between EU and Russia and establish exactly how important this link is to both the sides (Smith, 2002). The paper then analyses the EU-Russian energy link in relation to ...